All-Stars on Their Worst-Ever Kitchen Disasters • Weirdest Orders They’ve Ever Gotten • Which Terrible Foods They Love to Eat
What They Cook at Home • What It’s Like to Work at the Olive Garden • How to Kill a Hangover • Where to Eat and Drink This Summer
FEATURING:
Edouardo Jordan of Bar Sajor
Makini Howell of Plum Bistro
Janet Spindler of Spinnaker Bay Brewing
PK and Wiley Frank of Little Uncle
Juanita Porter of Taco Bell
Steven Stone of Sound Spirits and more!
And Yet More Eating and Drinking Recommendations from:
Maria Hines • Ethan Stowell • Rachel Yang
Jim Drohman • Anu Apte • Joshua Henderson
Andrew Friedman • Meeru Dhalwala
Jamie Boudreau • Jim Romdall • David Butler
PLUS RECIPES FOR EIGHT SUMMER DRINKS FROM LOCAL BARTENDERS AND CHEFS
Do you like to eat food, but hate the word “foodie”? Do you wish you were drinking (or are you drinking) a cocktail right now? Are you as interested in what it’s like to work at Taco Bell as you are in what it’s like to work at Bar Sajor? Would you enjoy reading (and following) the restaurant and bar recommendations of some of the Seattle food industry’s very finest?
You and I are of one mind, friend. Welcome to Cheftown
—Bethany Jean Clement, Editor
The Best Chef in Seattle You’ve Never Heard Of
EDOUARDO JORDAN
CHEF DE CUISINE, BAR SAJOR
Bar Sajor is Matt Dillon’s gorgeous and great new restaurant in Pioneer Square, but Matt Dillon also runs the (gorgeous, great) Corson Building and (ditto) Sitka & Spruce, and he is only one human. At Bar Sajor, Edouardo Jordan is Dillon’s right-hand man—his co-conspirator de cuisine, Dillon says.
Edouardo would like you to know that he was a Florida Gator (meaning he attended the University of Florida); he then went to culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Tampa. His first restaurant job was at a Bennigan’s, as a server. From there, his career could be fairly described as meteoric, at least for the restaurant business, including a stint at Mise en Place in Tampa, where Marty Blitz was his first mentor; an extended stage at the French Laundry, where Mark Bodinet, now the chef at Copperleaf near Sea-Tac, took him under his wing; time at the Herbfarm, where he first met Matt Dillon; then Per Se and Lincoln in New York; and back to Seattle to work with Dillon at Sitka & Spruce and, now, Bar Sajor.
If none of that means anything to you, the caliber of cooking Edouardo does at Bar Sajor will—you do not get much more up-and-coming in the world of food than this. He would want Eddie Murphy to play him in a movie, or Wesley Snipes—he says he kind of looks like Wesley Snipes, and his wife agrees.
I found an article from the St. Petersburg Times from 2006 about you, and it says, “At the French Laundry, Jordan learned he
was ‘too slow, nowhere near perfect, and not good enough.’” Yeeeeeeeeeeeeah.
How much progress do you think you’ve made since then? Well, I think I’ve made a major progression in my life as a cook, as a chef… coming into that atmosphere, it’s the highest caliber of food—the highest caliber of restaurant industry that you can possibly be in—and so the things you do are gonna be critiqued: how fast you move, how you do something, how you sweep, is gonna be critiqued.
That sounds terrifying. Yeah, it is terrifying. You never feel like you can do anything right, and so you’re always on your toes, so it’s very frustrating. But once you graduate from that system, and you understand the purpose of them
being so militant toward you, you kinda understand and appreciate it, and you realize, “I wasn’t that slow. I was just trying to learn a system.” You’re able to move and do things in a quicker manner, ’cause you’re like, “I get it now.”
What kind of boss is Matt Dillon? He’s very free-flowing—it’s just kind of “let the food speak for itself.” He’s open to us about his philosophy, like “keep it simple, make it fresh, don’t overthink it.” That’s the same mentality that I share, that’s why we kinda clicked. It’s just don’t mess up a good ingredient.
What’s your worst-ever kitchen disaster?
Oh Jesus!… At the Herbfarm was one that—at the Herbfarm, everyone eats all at one time, so it’s like a pan of 80 duck confit streusels, and I grabbed the pan without realizing it was totally hot, and I dropped 80 streusels on the ground. What did you do? We had to rethink that
dish with like five minutes to go. Luckily, we had duck confit in the fridge, so we just had confit on the plate with, I think, duck breast. We improvised, but that was one disaster I will never forget.
That sounds horrible. When you see [former Herbfarm, now Poppy chef] Jerry Traunfeld giving you that evil eye, it’s like [gasps, laughter].
What is your secret shame food? I’m a burger freak. I love burgers. I’ll eat a cheap burger, I’ll eat an expensive burger, ground meat, man! Just put it on a bun! I won’t technically go to a fastfood burger place anymore, but I used to… actually, back in the day, my favorite, and—don’t say I still eat it, please, ’cause I don’t—was Wendy’s.
Did you like the square shape of the Wendy’s burger? No, y’know, back in the day, they used to be pretty darn fresh. They tasted fresh, the fries were good, it
METEORIC Edouardo Jordan’s career arc has taken him from Bennigan’s to Bar Sajor.
KYLE JOHNSON
was hot, compared to the microwaved McDonald’s or whatever they did to their burgers. But they went downhill…
They have that weird milkshake there… the Frosty? Yeah, yeah, the Frosty! Yeah.
You like the Frosty? Uh… no. I don’t like powdered ice cream.
Do you have any recurring dreams that are weird that you’d like to share? Yeah… I don’t think my wife wants me to share it, though!
Do you have a hangover cure you’d like to share? Oh, it’s not a hangover cure, it’s a pre-hangover cure. It’s you drink one cup, and drink one cup of water. It’s a rotation.
But, um, don’t you have to go to the bathroom a lot then? Well, that’s part of the process! You’ve got to get it out of you. It slows you down, and you’re able to restock again, and last longer than everyone. They say you’re the biggest lush in the world, but you’re like, “I’m good.”
Any thoughts on Paula Deen? It’s sad. I thought she was a great personality for the food industry, just helping people learn about food and get excited about food, especially being from the South—bringing recognition to the South… The reality is that a lot of Southerners think that way still. It still happens. It kinda brings to light that society isn’t perfect yet.
What was the first record you ever bought? Oooh… Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. And other than that, probably Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey from back in the day.
Awww, that’s romantic! Sweet. Two sides of me. I’m a Gemini, so…
What restaurants or bars in Seattle do you like to go to? We tend to end up at taco night at Sitka & Spruce a little more than we should—it’s just,
it’s home for me. I end up at Montana more than I should… Still Liquor. Canon. Dreamgirls.
What is your death-bed meal? Probably my mom’s quiche. It was made with love—it’s just one of those things… I came home from school, and I was able to be happy when mom had a quiche that’s sittin’ there waiting on me for afternoon snack, or waking up in the morning with orange juice and her quiche is hot from the oven. I kinda compare everyone else’s quiche to my mom’s, whenever I have it or whenever I make it.
What’s the weirdest order you’ve ever gotten? Ordering a seafood pasta, like calamari and shrimp and a puttanesca sauce, with anchovies and garlic—and so the person wanted it, but they didn’t want any garlic, they didn’t want any anchovies, they didn’t want the olives… they basically made their own dish. We get that all the time. Or when a guest comes in and they just tell us what they want without even looking at the menu.
You guys love that, don’t you? Oh, it’s a great feeling to know they’re coming into our restaurant and they don’t even appreciate what we’re thinking about!
What’s the best thing on the menu at Bar Sajor right now? Being that our menu changes daily, it’s hard to pin down one thing, but our Stokesberry chicken is pretty damn awesome. It’s quality chicken. One of my favorite things right now personally is lobster mushrooms—they’ve come into season—we’re doing it with sliced tomatoes, and the basil, and the broth from the lobster mushrooms, and it’s a real simple dish, but it’s like heaven: perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. Pretty exciting, for me.
Bar Sajor, 323 Occidental Ave S, 682-1117, barsajor.com INTERVIEW BY BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT
Janet Spindler is the brewer at Spinnaker Bay Brewing, a little Hillman City brewery named after the nearby neighborhood where she lives with her partner, co-owner Elissa Pryor. Spinnaker Bay Brewing is the only women-owned, women-founded, and women-operated brewery in Seattle. Janet had dreamed of opening a brewery for 20 years before she finally collaborated with Elissa, an accountant by day, to make it happen. Housed in a former furniture store/secret massage parlor (!), the brewery provides tasty industrial-strength beer, is full of knockout gorgeous antique furnishings, and has a walk-in freezer named Christopher Walk-in.
Tell me about the history of beer-making in your family. That picture on the wall is from a family reunion. My grandmother is sitting on the keg there. My great grandmother was a brewer. My uncles were brewers who made bathtub gin during Prohibition.
What’s the most unusual beer you have on tap? Most of mine are classic styles. Our seasonal blonde ale is only available in-house, not even to take out in growlers. It’s made with gin-spent juniper berries. When I took
a distilling class at Batch 206 Distillery, I asked for a bag of juniper berries they had used to make gin, and they said, “Well, you can have them, but not the bag.” [Laughs] I said I could use my own bag.
What’s your favorite vessel to drink beer from? And what’s the oddest one you have used? I enjoy drinking out of tulip glasses. There are different styles of glass for different beers. You can get the aromas and the full flavor of the beer that way. The oddest… a port bottle. There was a little port in it, and it tasted great.
How did you choose the rotating selection of food trucks that station themselves at Spinnaker Bay? Many of them are folks who live in the neighborhood. The Grilled Cheese Experience guys live here. One of our first food trucks was Jemil’s Big Easy. He was willing to come down here when we first opened. We’ve been told we have a New Orleans feel. His food has some spice and kick, and it goes really well with beer.
Where are your favorite places to eat? Bitterroot in Ballard does amazing pulled pork and pork belly. Elissa and I venture up there occasionally, because that’s where our sailboat is moored. We love brunch at Lottie’s Lounge. Pizza at Pulcinella. It’s owned by Vince Jr. of Vince’s pizzeria fame. We love Loretta’s. Those tavern burgers, man, they’re addictive.
How about bars? Tippe and Drague, Columbia City Ale House, Lottie’s when we’re in a cocktail mood.
What’s the strangest drink request you’ve gotten? Rum and Coke! I must qualify that by saying it was a blind person. We had a band here called Ask Sophie, and the lead singer is blind. She came with a whole entourage of blind friends, and they had fun that night. The whole place was rocking.
Do you remember your first beer? I remember my first good beer.
If you could book any band here, who would you choose? We’re happy with the ones we have. I’d say Lavender Lucy is our house band. We have some jazz guys most Saturdays. They play our antique piano. The acoustics in here are great—look at that ceiling, that’s called car deck. We had that sandblasted.
Do you remember your first beer? Oh, I’m too old to remember. It was probably Pabst, Carling Black Label, or Stroh’s, because I grew up in Michigan. I remember my first good beer. It was [Yakima Brewing’s] Bert Grant’s Scottish Ale. That was the first thing I wanted to do as a home brewer—something like Bert Grant’s. My Scottish export is my most decorated recipe. Won a bunch of home-brew competitions. It’s on tap at Columbia City Ale House, Tippe and Drague, the Hummingbird Saloon, and Hopvine. It’s very malty.
What do you know about the history of this building? I read it was originally a filling station. Well, before we moved in, it was a furniture store called Lucky’s, but we don’t think they sold furniture, we think they sold lucky. There were a few rooms—see that space where the bathroom is? It had a sign that said “Number 8,” and there were boxes of opened and unopened cigarettes inside.
Your bar, salvaged from a former Chicago speakeasy, still has a button that alerted patrons to police raids. Does the button do anything now? Not right now, but I want to wire it up to do something fun.
Spinnaker Bay Brewing, 5718 Rainier Ave S, 7252337, spinnakerbaybrewing.com
“My fave summer drink is one I made at home a couple weeks ago. My GM, Skye, would call this a ‘porch pounder,’ because you want to keep drinking them!”
MARIA HINES’S WHISKEY SOUR
For ginger/lemon-balm shrub [not the plant, but a vinegar-based syrup—Ed.]:
2 cups simple syrup
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup chopped ginger
1 cup pounded lemon balm or mint
Bring simple syrup to boil, then turn off heat; add salt, vinegar, and ginger, and steep for one hour; add lemon balm or mint and steep for 20 minutes.
For whiskey sour:
3/4 ounce ginger/lemon-balm shrub
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1 ½ ounces Woodford Reserve bourbon
Shake and serve up. [Garnish with a sprig of lemon balm or mint to be fancy—Ed.]
Drink Time
My Favorite Summer Cocktail
By Zach Harjo, Ocho
“It’s really hard to beat a really well-made Painkiller. We developed our recipe after a visit to some of the best bars in SF and NYC got me excited about having fun with cocktails again during Seattle’s dour take-on-a-Manhattan, waxed-mustachein-a-vest period that we seem to be finally, blessedly escaping. We now offer a menu of tiki cocktails on Mondays.”
OCHO PAINKILLER
2 ounces Pusser’s British Navy rum
1 1/2 ounces orange juice
1 1/2 ounces coconut milk
1 ounce pineapple juice fresh-grated nutmeg and cinnamon
Combine all ingredients with ice and shake vigorously. Double strain, fill with fresh or crushed ice. Garnish with nutmeg, pineapple slice/leaves, umbrella, brandied cherry. BE SOMEBODY!!!
“Thaiku fixes homestyle food,
“A Phinney Ridge restaurant serves the kind of food you’d find in Thailand.” -CROSSCUT
Everyone Gets Up and Dances
Louie Alfajora is a beloved fixture in the commerce of Beacon Hill. By day, he mans the counter at the Despi Delite Bakery. In the evenings, he waits tables at Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine. And during his Friday-night shifts at Inay’s, he performs musical numbers—while still waiting tables—as his drag alter ego, Atasha Manila.
What’s the most challenging aspect of being a drag-queen waiter? Busing tables. It’s hard to balance every dirty plate in your hand while you have six-inch stilettos on. And with my waist cinched, a wig on, and padding, busing tables gets hot!
What’s Inay’s most popular dish? And what’s Atasha’s most popular number? Tilapia cooked in coconut milk with jalapeño and ginger is our signature dish. [It is delicious, and costs $8.25.—Ed.] And Atasha’s greatest hit of the moment is “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper. But Nicki Minaj is my go-to diva—“Super Bass,” “Starships.” And ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” is my forever closer. Everyone gets up and dances.
What’s your worst-ever food-service disaster? Oh my God. I was in drag. A family of eight came in, and they were surprised to find a drag show, and I dropped a glass of ice-cold water on their baby. They had a little boy in a high chair, and I’d brought out six full glasses of water in high heels, and I served five just fine, but the sixth fell onto the little boy’s head. It was so awful. It was a big glass. The baby screamed. It was ice-cold water. They ran out. I CAN’T BELIEVE MY WORST STORY IS ABOUT SERVING WATER!
it up and do your thing and serve the people who are willing to be served by a drag queen.
Fuck the haters. Have you gotten to the point where you have die-hard Friday-night regulars? Oh, yes. There’s a lesbian couple that started coming in almost three years ago, and they come see everything I do. Now I go to their house every Monday night to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race
Speaking of Drag Race , have you sent in an audition tape? Not yet. I’m not sure if I’m prepared, mentally. Those bitches will cut
DANCING QUEEN Atasha
Inay’s Friday-night dinner service is now a thing of renown—but do you still get the occasional weird response from people who just want their lumpia without a side of girlyboy? There have been people who turn and walk out. People who don’t know there’s a Friday drag night. It used to get me, but now I know you can’t please everyone, so you suck
you to pieces! Look at all the shit they did to Jinkx! Maybe next year.
Back to food: What’s the weirdest order you’ve over gotten? Pho. We’re a Filipino restaurant, not Vietnamese!
Do you watch cooking shows on TV? If so, what’s your favorite? Paula Deen! I love her, even though she’s fucking racist. She’s very funny, and she eats. You see all these bitches on these cooking shows, and they’re so skinny. This bitch eats what she cooks. Barefoot Contessa looks like she eats, too. I like the big bitches. They eat their feelings, like me. I also love Top Chef, Iron Chef America, and Amazing Wedding Cakes—it’s very artsy!
What do you cook at home? Eggs. Sunnyside-up eggs. That’s my go-to, because I’m always so busy. But when I cook, I cook porridge with chicken and eggs, or deepfried chicken wings…
Beyond Inay’s, where’s your favorite place to eat in Seattle? My mom’s. My mom’s cooking will always and forever be the best. I eat everything she cooks.
You’re on death row—what’s your perfect last meal? Deep-fried pork hock, a hamburger with sea salt and french fries, and spicy chicken nuggets from Wendy’s.
Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine, 2503 Beacon Ave S, 325-5692, inays.com
INTERVIEW BY DAVID SCHMADER
In Little Uncle We Trust
CHEF/OWNERS, LITTLE UNCLE
When Poncharee Kounpungchart, aka PK, and Wiley Frank opened up their tiny walk-up Little Uncle on Madison in 2011, it was instantly hailed as the only place in town serving up fresh, authentic Thai street food. Their menu is modest but perfectly executed—Wiley used to be a sous chef at vaunted Lark—and the duo is so charming that you’ll fantasize about taking them out for drinks, forcing them into friendship, and then cajoling them back to your place to whip you up a latenight snack. This summer, they opened a second, brick-and-mortar Little Uncle restaurant in Pioneer Square, expanding both their menu and their loyal following of hungry fans. Here the couple shares where to get great tacos with kids in tow, the fact that they (criminally) only make fried chicken for themselves, and more.
First off, why does your food taste so goddamn good? We simply make the food we like to eat. Our great employees make a huge difference. Many of our employees did not start out like us—knowing a lot about Thai cuisine—but they are welltrained as cooks, nonetheless. We make sure that everyone enters the kitchen with a blank slate, because assumptions can cloud what we are attempting to put out.
What’s the main difference between running a walk-up stall versus a brick-andmortar restaurant? The brick and mortar in Pioneer Square is 25 times larger
than the slice of cement on Madison; we now have headaches 25 times as big. The larger space gives us more mobility and freedom to do whatever we want. However, the walk-up window allows us a customer interaction like no other. Nearly every dish we send out requires some sort of instruction or explanation. Being able to tell people about our food at the walk-up window is priceless.
In a Sophie’s Choice –type situation, which location would you sacrifice? Impossible.
What dish are you currently working to perfect? Pad thai—it is a dish that always seems to be a work in progress. The technique can always be improved upon.
What’s the best hangover cure from your menu? Khao mun gai on the Pioneer Square menu—poached chicken, garlic chicken-fat rice, broth on the side, and a spicy sauce on the side. It warms your soul, even if you’re not hungover.
What’s your worst-ever kitchen disaster? Running out of food way too early and having to shrug and tell people, “Sorry.”
What’s your favorite thing to make for yourself that isn’t on the menu? Fried chicken.
What do you cook at home? Lad na, rice noodles with a meaty bean-paste-starchthickened gravy, and kanom jin nam ya, fresh noodle bundles covered in an herbal meat-thickened curry.
Do you have any favorite restaurants in Seattle? Eating out regularly usually involves getting our two children to go out
with us, and everyone agrees on a couple spots: Tacos el Asadero on Rainier (the big silver taco bus), Pho Bac on Rainier or Boren, Northwest Tofu on Jackson, and Mike’s Noodle and Henry’s Taiwan in the International District. We wish we could grab more beers on the way home at Standard Brewing on Jackson and 23rd. When we make it to the North End, we try to get to Dot’s Deli above Fremont.
What about guilty pleasure foods? We do not get guilty about eating junk food, but we do eat plenty of Cheetos, frosted animal crackers, and those big bags of Filipino corn nuts with bits of fried garlic.
What
pleasure foods? We do not get guilty about eating junk food, but we do eat plenty of Cheetos.
Where do you hope to be in 20 years? PK will be making specialty sauces to sell wholesale, thus making more time to learn how to make furniture. Wiley will be relaxed, doing plenty of jogging and reading sci-fi novels.
What would be your deathbed meal? PK: Noodle soups. Wiley: Chicken soup with plenty of vegetables.
Any role models in the Seattle food scene? John Sundstrom [of Lark] has always been a mentor to us. We could not be where we are today without his willingness to give us a kitchen to work in. We learn a lot from our peers who are also attempting to build small foodrelated businesses—we all understand that the stakes are high, and we learn from each other as to how to creatively make our respective businesses stick.
What’s the highest compliment on your food that you’ve ever been given? We love it when regulars continue to come back and allow us to order for them: “I don’t know what I want, will you just make me something?” The trust that our regulars are willing to give us keeps us going from day to day.
Little Uncle, 1509 E Madison St, 3291503, and 88 Yesler Way, 223-8529, littleuncleseattle.com
INTERVIEW BY
CIENNA MADRID
SO CHARMING Wiley and PK out on the town.
KYLE JOHNSON
The FastFood Life JUANITA PORTER
COOK/CASHIER/ETC., TACO BELL, SHORELINE
Juanita Porter has been working in the fast-food industry for 16 years, racking up time at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kidd Valley, and Jack in the Box. She currently works at a Taco Bell in Shoreline where the employees do a little (and sometimes a lot) of everything: take orders, cook, clean, and more. “I love fast food,” Porter says, “because you get to see all kinds of people—I don’t want to be a pencil-pushing person.” But the fast-food life isn’t easy. Porter lives in Tukwila with three teenagers and “takes two buses to deal with this BS.” She participated in the fast-food strike with Good Jobs Seattle earlier this summer.
What’s the worst kitchen disaster you’ve ever seen? Dishes piled up to Mount Everest, and I’m stuck doing them because nobody else would. And somebody getting pissed off and spitting in somebody’s food. That’s nasty. That was at Jack in the Box. I guess someone wanted a special burger, so they got one.
What’s the worst order you’ve ever gotten? Oh my god, I had an order three days ago where the lady wanted everything off her burrito and added extra stuff on there, but when she got the price she didn’t want to pay for it. She took three minutes of my time, and I had people in my drive-through.
Do you have any recurring dreams? I’m 34. My dream is pretty much over.
I mean like recurring dreams at night. If I do dream, it’s me hurting somebody or
“Yeah, okay, we’ll eat Hamburger Helper or a skillet meal.”
Wizards? Nah. I know them, and they know me!
beating up somebody. I fell off a cliff a couple of times or got shot in the head.
Do you have a favorite hangover cure? The only thing that works for me is greasy foods—and possibly doing it again to calm it down!
Paula Deen: pro or con? I don’t know who that is.
Do you have a guilty-pleasure food? I’ll eat anything, except for pork. Tacos and burritos, I guess. I make my own. I like my black beans and my refried, ground beef, and a big fat tortilla with sour cream and cheese and salsa. I do it every week, but my children are like, “You eat too much Mexican food.” So I’m like,
What’s a skillet meal? Nacho Supreme— it’s pretty much a Velveeta skillet, a box you buy. All you have to have is the ground beef.
How often do you go out to eat? Every blue moon. I catch myself doing it every two weeks, or something like that. We go to the Cheesecake Factory. Their cheesecake is good—I’ve never liked cheesecake in my life, but I like their Oreo cheesecake, and strawberry cheesecake, and mousse. Or to IHOP for the kids. Or someplace they have booze.
What’s your favorite place to go with booze? I normally go to the Wizards Casino in Burien. I ate myself out of the Vietnamese sandwiches and the fried rice!
Are you afraid they’ll spit in your food at
Do you have a “deathbed” drink? I’d just drink a bunch of Paul Masson brandy and wouldn’t feel myself die!
Who would play you in a movie? Queen Latifah!
What’s the first record you ever bought? That was a long time ago, but I think the first one was disco, and then Next. I love an R&B singer.
What was your first concert? Up at KeyArena like five years ago, when Lil Weezy and T-Pain came here.
Where do you hope to be in 20 years? Alive. Just alive. My children will be older, and maybe will be married and have kids, and I would like to be alive to see that.
NOW SHE KNOWS Juanita Porter doesn’t want to be a pencil-pushing person.
JENNIFER RICHARD
What’s your favorite cooking show?
I don’t watch cooking shows. I like to put stuff to-
Do you have any role models? Nah, I’m my own role model.
What’s your favorite cooking show? I don’t watch cooking shows. I like to put stuff together myself, see if I can make a “Juanita à la mode.”
What’s that? Put it in there and hope it tastes good!
What’s your favorite thing to eat at work? I normally just get a standard taco. With different managers, you can do different things.
Some managers won’t let you eat the food? Yeah, the people who just started out and don’t know better. But they’ve gotta catch me first!
What do they say when they catch you? That we didn’t get enough VOCs— that’s “voice of customers,” the callins to tell you how good your store is doing—so you can’t eat.
That’s messed up. Are those kinds of things the reason you got involved with the fast-food workers’ strike? I don’t know—I guess the older I get, the more I’ve been paying attention to a
bunch of stuff, and now it’s like, okay, now I know.
Who’s your best customer? I got a couple of good customers—I like them and they like me. There’s the old dude Don, the little African people who come by, the elderly lady who comes through, my Chuck Norris look-alike. They know how to make a person smile, conversate for a few minutes.
Who’s your worst customer? This old lady came in Sunday. I was giving her six dollars back with the receipt, and I always cup the money between their thumb and index finger so they can close their hand over it, but she dropped it and cursed me out. She took the money like I had cooties or something and dropped it. Everybody in the drive-through line heard it but said, “Don’t pay her no mind.” She was just being a butthead. Somebody must’ve made her mad, so she came down to Taco Bell to cuss somebody out!
Taco Bell, 15010 Aurora Ave N, 365-2221, tacobell.com
INTERVIEW BY BRENDAN KILEY
“I enjoy this because it is refreshing and I can drink it continuously all afternoon without getting shitty, just a little blurry.”
4
by Jim Drohman, Le Pichet/Cafe Presse
Tiny Ninja Cafe
Scotch, Hold the Grapefruit Juice
JOE SHLICHTA
BARTENDER, RISTORANTE MACHIAVELLI
If you didn’t know that Joe Shlichta was a born painter— someone who’s had a brush in his hand since he was a kid, through art schools in LA and Seattle, and through a decades-long art career that has spanned from New York to Seattle—you might simply think he was a born bartender. As a younger man, he thought becoming a book illustrator would be practical, so he moved to New York and made it there. But after four books, he discovered that he couldn’t pretend being an illustrator was the same as being an artist. He gave up commercial art, and to support his fine-art work, he took up bartending— starting at the Olive Garden in Times Square.
Bartending became his entirely unintentional second career. He even worked as a bartender at a chic restaurant in Buenos Aires when he was stranded there without money during one of his extended traveling interludes. In Seattle, he’s been at various establishments,
including Ileen’s Sports Bar (now Julia’s) when it was the only place on Capitol Hill serving hard liquor, and the swank Waterfront Seafood Grill (now AQUA by El Gaucho) on sparkling Pier 70. He’s kept his two lives at a healthy remove from each other, showing his dreamy, atmospheric paintings at Seattle’s Fetherston Gallery while, nowadays, manning the bar at Ristorante Machiavelli. (Another Seattle artist who is a prominent bartender: Sean M. Johnson, at Tommy Gun.)
Shlichta has a certain fundamental savoir faire: He is a calmly friendly person who was once very shy, so he knows how to be warm but let you keep as much distance as you want. His drinks are perfect, but it’s his easy, winning manner that’s gained him a quietly loyal following.
What in the hell was it like at the Olive Garden in Times Square? Awful. Though I met some really good people there. The volume was incredible. I never knew so
many people would line up for bad Italian food. I had to make these blended drinks you couldn’t believe.
And Buenos Aires? The place was called El Gran Bar Danzon, and it was the most beautiful physical bar I’ve ever worked in. At night, all the beautiful young people would come in, and never leave.
Has tending bar changed you? Completely. It forced me to be more social and outgoing than I am by nature. And it became a habit.
Where do you eat and drink when you go out? If I’m gonna go get a drink, I usually go to Zig Zag, or the 9 Lb Hammer. For food, I really do love El Puerco Lloron. Their tamales. As my wife and I go out
so rarely, we try something new every time. The last big night out we went to Spinasse, and that was great.
What do you drink at home? I’m just gonna confess to it: At home, I drink Bud Light. I mean, you know, you’re thirsty, you want water, and you want beer, and it’s kind of like having both at the same time. It’s a beer for people who don’t want to even commit to drinking a beer. And what I cook is whatever I can get my boy to eat. He’s 6 years old.
Got a hangover cure? Drink a lot of water and go for a run. It’s the last thing you want to do, but if you can make yourself do it, you will feel a million times better. Two or three miles is all you need.
Any drink you won’t serve? I just never really liked that whole energy-drink-andalcohol thing. It just doesn’t sound right to me. Come on, kids, what are you doing to yourself? So we just don’t carry it at Machiavelli.
SAVOIR FAIRE Joe Shlichta has tended bar everywhere from the Olive Garden to Machiavelli, with Buenos Aires in between.
KYLE JOHNSON
Pacifique Absinthe (by Pacific Distillery)
Aquavit (by Sound Spirits)
3 Howls Gin (by 3 Howls)
Counter Gin (by Batch 206)
Ebb+Flow Gin (by Sound Spirits)
Gun Club Gin (by Sun Liquor)
Hedge Trimmer Gin (by Sun Liquor)
Old Tom Gin (by Sound Spirits)
Oola Gin (by Oola Distillery)
Coming this fall:Waitsburg Barrel Aged Gin (by Oola Distillery)
Voyager Dry Gin (by Pacific Distillery)
LIQUEURS & CORDIALS
Depth – Cacao (by Sound Spirits)
Depth – Menthe (by Sound Spirits)
Depth – Vow of Silence (by Sound Spirits)
MOONSHINE
See 7 Stars Moonshine (by Batch 206) RUM
3 Howls Gold Label Rum (aged) (by 3 Howls)
3 Howls White Label Rum (by 3 Howls)
Backbeat Light Rum (by Backbeat Distillery) Sun Rum Silver (by Sun Liquor)
I just never really liked that whole energy-drink-and-alcohol thing. It just doesn’t sound right to me.
Weirdest order you’ve ever gotten?
Back when I used to work at the old Bandoleone in Eastlake, there was a guy who used to come in and order Scotch and grapefruit juice, and it was a little hideous. I did try it. It wasn’t quite as bad as you’d think it would be, but it was still revolting.
What’s your worst bar disaster? One of the most interesting nights I’ve ever had working in a restaurant was the night I was working at Machiavelli during the WTO, and the whole city got shut down. The police sent all the rioters up the street, and they stopped the line right in front of our window, and it was just like being in a war—you could look out the window, and it was just a battle. It actually wound up being kind of a fun night. We had to shut down the bar, and when we saw people that we knew in the crowd, we would open up the side door so they could come in out of the tear gas. We’d give them a beer, and next thing you know, we have this little WTO party. We brought the news crews inside the bar, too.
Ever had a recurring dream? Not since I was 6 years old. I had one that was inspired by Where the Wild Things Are. I projected myself into the book every night for years in my childhood. I became so used to it,
the dream became so normal, that I would know it when it was starting, and I wouldn’t get scared anymore because I would make friends with the monsters.
Where would you hope to be in 20 years? I would just hope to be established enough in the art world that I would be able to have a comfortable life completely off the sale of my paintings, and I wouldn’t have to be behind the bar anymore. Not to trash the profession—it’s been a great run. But in 20 years, I’ll be in my 60s. I think Murray [Stenson, most recently at Canon] is the only man who’s been able to pull that one off.
And what would you drink on your deathbed? Shoot, I’d probably just go with a really nice Scotch, you know? Because my grandpa drank a lot of Scotch in his day, and I love Scotch, but I can’t drink it anymore because it gives me such splitting headaches in the morning. If I’m on my deathbed, there’ll be no morning, so I can just have a nice big Scotch on the rocks.
Ristorante Machiavelli, 1215 Pine St, 621-7941, machiavellis.com
INTERVIEW BY JEN
GRAVES
Drink Time
My
By Meeru Dhalwala, Shanik
“My mental ambience for living and cooking is determined by colors. In the summer, when I’m getting the yellow from the sun, my go-to color is pink, as the perfect mood compliment. My favorite summer drink has always been a pink Champagne—not any bubbles, but Champagne from France. If I don’t want that, then I go for our Indian Breeze cocktail. At Shanik, it’s made with vodka, roohafza (a bright pink/magenta Indian grenadine originally meant to be a health elixir during Ramadan from the 1920s), and orange juice infused with cloves and black pepper. The pink color of my summer drink is crucial.”
INDIAN BREEZE
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces orange juice (final measurement after simmering with 6 to 10 cloves for 15 minutes)
dash of grapefruit bitters
1 ounce sparkling water
Shake and strain over ice.
We are a food truck with flare, settling in a different location around Seattle each day. Everything we do is "all about the food". There is pride in our food and every item is house made. From hand pulled mozzarella to hand rolled all butter pastry for our pies and we grind all of our own meat, so we know exactly what's going in to your deliciousness. There is a little of something for everybody.
Favorite Summer Cocktail
Desserts So Good, Your Head Will Explode
LUCY DAMKOEHLER
PASTRY CHEF, SUGAR MOUNTAIN INC.
At Mistral Kitchen, Lucy Damkoehler did magical dessert-things like turn lime zest into pop rocks and make the world’s smoothest sorbet, all within a workspace no larger than a studio apartment’s bathroom. She’s currently the pastry chef for Kurt Dammeier’s restaurants—she developed the dessert menu for Bennett’s on Mercer Island, and she’ll be on the opening team for Liam’s, coming to University Village this fall. She’s also working on the menu for Sugar Mountain Bakery, a new shop Dammeier is opening next year.
Damkoehler has a knack for presenting familiar, comfortable flavors in new, mind-blowing ways. At Mistral, s’mores were reinvented as little semifreddo sandwiches alongside perfect domes of burnt homemade marshmallow; blueberry coffee cake was served with a sweet, unexpected smear of corn puree. She’s come a long way since fifth grade, when she made an inedible chocolate torte for her dad using a half-cup of salt.
So tell me about this Sugar Mountain Bakery thing! When will it open? We’re looking at early next spring—probably March. It’ll come so fast, though.
For you, maybe, but not for me, the person who can’t wait to eat the desserts. What kinds of things can people look forward to? Are you still doing some of the molecular stuff? No, not so much molecular anymore. I’m still sticking with the
WITH
HER RABBIT Lucy Damkoehler could probably pull a magical dessert out of a hat. Her rabbit’s name is Tomato.
childhood memories, but revamped. I’m working on a peanutbutter-and-jelly cake right now. Basically, Sugar Mountain Bakery is going to be Americana-style desserts, kind of third-generation Southern.
Banana puddin’! Yeah! And I want to do a hummingbird cake, and find a way to incorporate fudge in a 2014 style. Fun things like that.
Are there any foods that you love that you’re ashamed of loving? Doritos are a huge thing, especially working for the company that I work for, because we’re all about no red dye. My favorite Doritos flavor is the taco seasoning one. They’re so good. I can’t stay away.
What is your favorite thing to make for yourself that isn’t on the menu, like a staff meal? Do you do that? I really like to make everybody’s birthday cake; I’m always volunteering to make people’s birthday cake.
Do you have a favorite thing to cook at home? My husband and I are on this huge kick of doing big, ginormous salads. We call ’em big-ass salads. Our garden is going crazy right now, so we have a bunch of lettuce, kale, and tomatoes—all that good stuff. That’s my go-to dinner. Oh my gosh, I know another thing I’m ashamed of eating! We often have shitty taco night—we buy the taco seasoning and hard taco shells.
My mom would get us those! I loved them. I didn’t know until, I think it was after I graduated high school, that taco shells could be soft. Yes, me neither! I definitely grew up with it. For a long time, we’d make good street tacos, but recently we’ve gotten on a kick of shitty taco night, like we’re in college. And they’re not bad! I love them. When we say ‘shitty taco night,’ we are obviously distinguishing them from the good street tacos.
What are some of your favorite places to eat in Seattle? My current favorite is to go to Husky Deli in West Seattle, get a sandwich and ice cream, and then go to Lincoln Park and have a picnic. Of course, the best part is eating the ice cream first! Jemil’s Big Easy food truck is my favorite lunch to get when I’m at the office; he parks on Second and Pike on
What kind of things can people look forward to at Sugar Mountain?
I’m working on a peanutbutter-and-jelly cake right now.
Tuesday and Wednesday. Oh! I have a new obsession—the Corner Market Greek yogurt place at Pike Place. Holy cow! Best yogurt I’ve had in a long time! I treat myself to it every Friday morning. And, of course, Ma’ono to get a burger, and Taste for happy hour.
Do you have any memorable, terrible kitchen disasters? Oh, man, I do. Yes, very much so. When I was working in Hawaii, they had these citrus blossoms in the freezer that had been there for, like, three months. I had recently been talking to a friend of mine about how to rig your own machine to make extracts by evaporating the liquid and collecting it, and I was like, “Oh, I want to try that!” I was fairly fresh out of culinary school, thinking I was so cool, so I made this orange blossom extract water, and I did an orange blossom sorbet that ended up yielding about a ninth pan [about a quart] of sorbet. It was so good. I took it to my chef and I was like, “Look at this!” He tasted it—“Wow, that’s really good, where did you get the extract?” “Oh, I just cleaned out the freezer and saw the blossoms.” And he was like, “Uh, those are $80 a bag.” And I used three bags of them! It was a morethan-$200 ninth pan of sorbet. He was like, “You need to ask next time.”
Find info about Bennett’s, Sugar Mountain, and Liam’s at sugarmtn.net
INTERVIEW BY MEGAN SELING
JENNY JIMENEZ
By Joshua Henderson, Skillet
“Maybe
By Jamie Boudreau, Canon
“Right
1
1
¼
2
Pour
Eureka Moments
STEVEN STONE
FOUNDER/HEAD DISTILLER, SOUND SPIRITS DISTILLERY
Steven Stone is a Boeing aerospace engineer who specializes in preventing “flutter” in planes, a deceptively adorable term for the event when a structure basically vibrates until it destroys itself. He is the founder of Sound Spirits Distillery, which holds the honor of being the first distillery to open in Washington State after Prohibition. In his stills in Interbay, he uses unusual ingredients and 18th-century distillation techniques to make spirits that are exceptionally smooth, complex, and unlikely to vibrate until they destroy themselves. You can stop by the distillery for samples and meet Steven’s friendly cat, CHO, short for “Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen,” the elements that make up ethyl alcohol.
How does being an engineer influence the way you run your distillery? There are always problems that arise with production processes. I can use my skills as an engineer to troubleshoot. Fermentation and distillation are heavily influenced by basic chemistry.
What was the first liquor you made?
I started with vodka, because it’s the base of so many other products. It’s even the gateway to whiskey. Vodka comes out 190 proof. Whiskey is distilled to a lower proof, and that’s where the flavor comes from. The spirit is drawn in and out of the wood [in the barrel], and a natural filtering takes place. Depending on the level of char on the barrel, you’ll get different oaky flavors. One theory about the original use of charred barrels is they
were reusing barrels that had contained something nasty.
How did you choose your elegant liquor bottles over more convenient packaging, like old Snapple bottles or water balloons? In this business, you want to stand out, in the quality of the product as well as the presentation. We put a little built-in advertising in each bottle. We do struggle with the cost, especially because of the higher prices that resulted from the privatization measure. They’re from a French glass company called Saver. We knew customers would also like the bottles because they’re a good shape for cabinets.
When you’re drunk, are you more likely to take your clothes off or wear objects that aren’t intended as clothing? Probably more likely to take my clothes off. Especially if there’s a pool nearby. What is it that’s so fun about booze and skinnydipping?
Do you listen to music while you work? I’ve been hitting up KEXP’s set lists. Then I do Spotify to listen to what’s trending. I do the same thing by reading The Stranger’s reviews. It’s been Random Access Memories by Daft Punk, Boards of Canada, a Toronto band called Austra. I like this band called Kuba.
Where are your current favorite places to eat? I live in Ballard. It’s been amazing to see so much coming into the neighborhood. Stoneburner, Billy Beach for sushi, Delancey for pizza, Ocho for tapas. I had amazing browned brussels sprouts at the
Sexton the other evening. It’s like highend Southern food. To this day, I go to the Sloop for fish and chips.
Favorite bars? Being in the industry, I range out a little more for cocktails, to see who’s doing what. I really like Rob Roy and Liberty. Vito’s, Canon, the Hideout. I like Artusi. Vessel is always good. Oh, you know about Rocco’s? Their bar is amazing. The Hazlewood is always cool.
Do you have a booze baron hero? Personally, I love the lady with glass legs full of beer from The Saddest Music in the World From Ken Burns’s Prohibition documentary, I found out Seattle had a famous bootlegger named Olmstead. He was
When
BOOZE BARON Steven
appreciates a proper maraschino
known for being a good guy who didn’t want his men to carry guns.
All-time favorite cocktail garnish? The Luxardo maraschino cherry. They’re the real maraschinos. The ones that are really red and sweet and not very good are poor copies of them.
Have distillation experiments yielded any fabulous surprises? Distillation is an old art form. I’d say there’s a lot that will be rediscovered because Prohibition set us back, but eureka moments in distillation are rare. That said, we had a eureka moment with our Depth cacao liqueur, but that will have to remain a company secret.
How about memorable disasters? Has anything exploded? Early on, I was using a yeast that had too much salt in it. It reacted with the copper still, and a beautiful but poisonous blue liquid came out.
Your gin and vodka are unusual because they’re made with barley. Do you use any other unconventional ingredients? Our gin has a brut, rather than a completely dry base, and one unique ingredient—elder flower.
“It’s an awesome take on classic summer flavors… watermelon, mint, and lemon, and perfect after a long shift.” THE SUNSHINE TOUR
4 sprigs of mint (bruised)
2 ounces of watermelon (muddled)
1/4 ounce simple syrup
1 ounce lemon juice
2 ounces gin
one egg white ice for shaker
Add all ingredients, shake to mix, and strain.
Drink Time
My Favorite Summer Cocktail
By Jim Romdall, Vessel
“I love this drink because it’s refreshing and citrusy, but it’s still a very spirit-forward drink—the rhum shines through and stays the star of the drink.” CLASSIC TI’PUNCH
2 ounces rhum agricole juice of half of one lime sugar to taste
Cut half of one lime into wedges. Pour rhum over ice and squeeze limes into
Add sugar (or simple syrup) to taste and stir to combine.
“A
NAMED
Regional
PVegan Destiny
MAKINI HOWELL CHEF/OWNER,
thing because I don’t feel… like I’m ‘missing’ anything. I’m just using other sources of protein… This idea of changing the way you taste pushes us to experiment and recraft, to look at our dishes from outside the box and try to make them even tastier, more indulgent, and more vibrant.” Howell isn’t always so verbose.
Which restaurants, bars, bakeries, sandwich shops, cafes, and food trucks in Seattle do you like to frequent? Healeo, High 5 Pie, and Bar Cotto.
lum Bistro owner and head chef Makini Howell was genetically destined to spread the gospel of healthy eating. Her father, James, inherited a grocery store that led to the opening of a chain of restaurants. Her mother, Niombi, founded the massively popular Hillside Quickies vegan sandwich company. Mrs. Howell raised Makini and her two siblings in Seattle on an organic, vegan regimen; not only did Makini not rebel, she used her mother’s guidance to catapult herself to the highest levels of the vegan-restaurant food chain.
Howell worked in New York City as a graphic designer and men’s denim designer for Rocawear for a time in the aughts, and even in America’s biggest metropolis, she found quality vegan food options to be scarce. In 2009, back in Seattle, Howell turned her lifelong reverence for a meatless/ dairy-free diet into one of the city’s most well-regarded vegan eateries—and one of Capitol Hill’s finest destination restaurants. Howell also runs Plum Cafe on Capitol Hill (formerly a branch of Hillside Quickies), recently opened a Plum branch in the Armory at Seattle Center, and has a Plum food truck coming soon. Customers’ inquiries about her recipes eventually grew too loud to ignore, so this spring, Howell published Plum: Gratifying Vegan Dishes from Seattle’s Plum Bistro
In the introduction to her cookbook, Howell explains her approach: “My recipes are shaped by traditions such as butter sauces, chimichurri dressing, and handmade pastas… I’m really not trying to replace any-
What was your worst-ever kitchen disaster? A pressure cooker full of seitan exploded.
What’s the weirdest order you’ve ever gotten? Fried tofu with no oil.
Do you have a hangover cure that you recommend? Don’t drink.
What “shameful” food do you like? I’m pretty shameless with my food.
Who would play you in a movie? The badass.
What do you cook for yourself at home? Peanut butter and jelly rice crackers.
Who are your role models? Women who kick ass.
What are your favorite cooking shows? I don’t have a TV.
Where do you buy your food? Organically Grown Company and Frank’s Produce.
Where do you hope to be in 20 years? On top.
What’s your favorite dish to make for yourself that isn’t on the menu? Fried rice.
Paula Deen: pro or con? No opinion.
What is the first record you ever bought? Maxi Priest’s “Wild World.”
What is the first concert you ever attended? Ziggy Marley.
What recurring dreams, if any, do you have? I don’t dream… I make it happen.
What would your deathbed meal be? I’m not planning on dying anytime soon.
PLUM BISTRO NOT MISSING ANYTHING Makini Howell wants to change the way the world
Six More Drinks You Should Be Drinking
Right Now from Six More Awesome Seattle Chefs/Bartenders
IT IS SUMMERTIME. DRINK UP!
ANDREW FRIEDMAN, Liberty
I’d have to say that my favorite summer drink is a shandy—the oft-changing version at Liberty is a mix of a carbonated fruit-based cocktail and beer, the latest being a mix of gin, fresh watermelon and lemon juice, ginger, orange bitters, and a topping of pilsner. The real name is officially a “shandygaff.” It’s a drink that feels good to order: “I’ll have a shandy.” It just feels like you’re in the club.
James Miller, Cafe Besalu
One of my favorite drinks in the summertime is a good-quality sweet red vermouth with a little ice and either a twist of lemon or a couple of Manzanilla olives.
Rachel Yang, Joule, Revel
My go-to cocktail is Sweet Freedom, which we happen to serve at Joule! It has makoli, which is like a Korean version of sparkling nigori, which makes the drink creamy yet refreshing.
David Butler, Le Caviste
I drink literally cases of French rosé during summer (on my own), but when it gets really hot, my secret refresher is Malmatina retsina over ice! (Insert gasp here.)
Ethan Stowell, Tavolàta, How to Cook a Wolf, Anchovies & Olives, Bar Cotto, Staple & Fancy, Ballard Pizza Company, Rione XIII
If I’m with my wife or having dinner with family or friends, Provence rosé. It’s refreshing and it goes great with summertime food, salads, backyard barbecue, grilled fish. If I’m alone or going out after work, beer and a sipping booze. Summer is Tecate and tequila. Winter is Olympia and bourbon. After work, I don’t really want anything complex, and it needs to be refreshing and good. And I like simple beer and nice booze.
Anu Apte, Rob Roy
In the summer, I love a good sour beer or something sessionable. Petrus Aged Pale and Stiegl Radler are definitely go-tos.
Seattle’s Most Awesome Chefs and Bartenders Tell You Where to Go (With The Stranger’s MiniReviews of Each Place, Too)
RACHEL YANG OF JOULE AND REVEL RECOMMENDS…
THE FAT HEN in Ballard as “a little neighborhood breakfast spot that serves killer baked eggs and eggs Benedict.” Seattleite Linnea Gallo and her Italian-born husband, Massimo, run the Fat Hen, near Delancey in Ballard. The space is small but airy and lovely, with marble-topped cafe tables; they’re serving breakfast and lunch and weekend brunch—eggs “in carrozza” (with prosciutto cotto and scamorza), eggs Benedict with superlative hollandaise on house-made English muffins, and more. Bock bock! (1418 NW 70th St, 782-5422, thefathenseattle.com, $–$$)
LA CARTA DE OAXACA in Ballard as “a perfect place for lunch, when there’s no line!” Very delicious Oaxacan food—moles, tamales wrapped in banana leaves, chiles rellenos, etc., all made fresh in-house—has made bright, busy La Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard and Mezcaleria Oaxaca on Queen Anne citywide favorites, so expect a wait. Everything is much, much fresher and subtler (and spicier, and just better) than at your average family Mexican spot, with particularly fantastic homemade salsas and tortillas. Mezcaleria also has every mezcal available in Washington State and a big shiny metal roaster in the back room for the barbacoa de cabrito (marinated, barbecued goat, SO GOOD). Both restaurants are run by the Dominguez family, with mom Gloria Perez as head chef, and have millions of gorgeous photos of Oaxaca by local photographer Spike Mafford on the walls. Coming soon: La Carta on Capitol Hill! (5431 Ballard Ave NW, 782-8722, lacartadeoaxaca.com, $$)
DOT’S DELICATESSEN in Fremont because “the Rueben is awesome, and their own and thick-sliced, fatty pastrami is the key!” Miles James has worked at Campagne, Union, and Cremant. His Fremont deli serves house-made meats, including sausages, pâtés, and terrines, as well as some damn fine sandwiches, Belgian frites, and simple dinners to eat in or take out. James has said he wants to serve fancy ingredients cheaply and unpretentiously, and in this, he has succeeded. For a place so meaty, the name is surprisingly sweet: Dot is James’s grandmother’s nickname. (4262 Fremont Avenue N, 687-7446, dotsdelicatessen.com, $)
ETHAN STOWELL OF TAVOLÀTA, HOW TO COOK A WOLF, ANCHOVIES & OLIVES, BAR COTTO, STAPLE & FANCY, BALLARD PIZZA COMPANY, AND RIONE XIII RECOMMENDS…
CAFE BESALU in Ballard for the “best pastries in town, hands down.” At Besalu, ham-andcheese and chocolate croissants, orange-glazed brioche, quiche, and more are all made with benevolent obsessiveness by pastry chef/co-owner James Miller. Everybody agrees: SO GOOD. Excellent coffee, too. (5909 24th Ave NW, 789-1463, cafebesalu.com, $)
DOT’S DELICATESSEN in Fremont because “Miles used to work with me, and the place serves great food.” Maria Hines recommends Dot’s, too—see above.
POPPY on Capitol Hill because “it’s my wife’s favorite place—I think it’s great too.” At Poppy, former Herbfarm maestro Jerry Traunfeld fuses the Indian culinary tradition of the thali—a platter featuring a variety of small dishes—with his long-standing love of local/seasonal ingredients and ambitious Northwest cuisine. (The most local ingredients come from the garden he created in back—quite a change from the rear exit of the former tenant, the gay bar the Elite.) The interior is prototypically urban-contemporary: exposed brick walls, close-set tables, simple Scandinavian-style design (though the poppy-orange dots that accent the woodwork and menu feel a little forcibly whimsical). Strapped-butadventurous types should try the great happy
hour. (622 Broadway E, 324-1108, poppyseattle. com, $$$)
SHIRO’S in Belltown because “he’s the best chef working in Seattle, period.” Shiro is the man. It is worth waiting to worship this dictatorial sushi master at his counter (and customers do wait for seats before him specifically). He laughs gleefully as you eat your uni, chortling, “Chocolate from the sea!” He tells you how much soy sauce to apply to individual pieces of fish, and, in some cases, how long to chew them. (If you want more of his wit and wisdom [plus recipes!]—and you do—check out his memoir Shiro: Wit, Wisdom and Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer. The photos alone—from seemingly every step of his life in Japan and then Seattle—are amazing.) Those seated at his bar compulsively tell him how fantastic everything is. So the paint’s a little scraped on one wall—whatever. Feel the love. But call ahead: Shiro isn’t at Shiro’s as much anymore, since he sold all but a minority interest (to partners, including one from the less-thanamazing local I Love Sushi chain). (2401 Second Ave, 443-9844, shiros.com, $$–$$$)
CANLIS on Queen Anne because “I love the bar, and Jason is one of my good buddies.” Richie-riches, businesspeople, and gourmands love this midcentury marvel of a restaurant with its amazing view of Lake Union and its fancy-pants, imported-from-New-York-City, award-winning chef Jason Franey. The menu is “geeked-out comfort”: wagyu tenderloin, lobster, foie gras, and so forth, dressed up with Franey’s modernist techniques. The former dress code: “At Canlis, you cannot be overdressed.” The new dress code: “At Canlis, we consider serving you a special occasion and hope you will consider this when planning your attire for the evening. We are a dressy, fine dining restaurant and we ask that gentlemen wear a suit or sport coat if possible.” The music: live piano. Make a Republican take you. Make them pay. (2576 Aurora Ave N, 283-3313, canlis.com, $$$)
SERIOUS PIE downtown because “I love the entire concept of the place, super-simple and super-good.” Tom Douglas forays into the pizza arena with Serious Pie, where every day brings a selection of individual-sized specialty pizzas. The menu gets experimental—one pie offers Yukon gold potato and rosemary on an olive-oil base, another’s built of foraged mushrooms and truffle cheese—but the best is the traditional pie with house-made mozzarella and life-altering San Marzano tomatoes. Blackened around the edges by the 650-degree wood fire, the crust on all of the pies is salty and crispy on the outside, chewy and primal on the inside. (316 Virginia St, 8387388, tomdouglas.com, $$)
MEERU DHALWALA OF SHANIK RECOMMENDS…
SITKA & SPRUCE on Capitol Hill because “I love the communal table at Sitka & Spruce, and we get super high-quality food and service that
doesn’t feel fussy. I always end up talking to the others at that table. ‘Only Mom can insert herself into a double date and start talking politics’— that was last week’s comment when I took my daughters to Sitka & Spruce for dinner. They were making fun of me, but I took it as a compliment. Their other line was ‘This smelt is the best, even if we’ve never had it before.’” This eclectic restaurant is world-famous for its small menu featuring local farm-fresh foods. Chef/owner Matt Dillon’s preparations revolve around simple, clear, lovely flavors; sauces are sparing, nothing’s overwrought, and insanely fresh produce meets again and again with the utmost care. Originally in a tiny spot in an Eastlake strip mall, in the spring of 2010 Sitka & Spruce moved on up to bigger rustic-chic digs in the Melrose Market on Capitol Hill. (1531 Melrose Ave E, 324-0662, sitkaandspruce.com, $$–$$$)
SERIOUS PIE downtown because “We basically live and work next door to Serious Pie. It’s our neighborhood joint, and we all love our neighborhood restaurant where we can go practically in our pajamas because we are so comfortable. Even though I always get the kale salad, I still feel the need to eat nothing but fruit and vegetables the next day, because the pizzas are super-rich, but too delicious not to finish.” Ethan Stowell recommends Serious Pie, too—see this page.
ROW HOUSE CAFE in South Lake Union because “Row House has the best house-baked, old-fashioned cakes in the world, with the perfect amount of not-too-sweet frosting and such a moist cake. We go there regularly for our 4 p.m. coffee-and-cake break and for our weekly staff meetings.” The Row House is aptly named: The three connected small cottages were built in 1904 as housing for immigrant workers and remodeled in 2010 to become a cafe. The furnishings include burlap curtains, exposed lightbulbs, unfinished wood, and a mantel against a (fireplaceless) wall. If it can feel a tiny bit precious—especially with website copy like “Here, in the Row House Cafe, your ideas and feelings matter”—it’s got superfriendly waitstaff. (1170 Republican St, 682-7632, rowhousecafe.com, $)
HOT CAKES MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKERY in Ballard because “on Saturdays, if there’s time, we go to Hot Cakes for coffee and their molten chocolate cake or warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream. We have a strong, but not big, sweet tooth that accompanies our 4 p.m. coffee. We always share.” Autumn Martin, former Canlis pastry chef and Theo head chocolatier (and fourth generation Washingtonian), makes all-organic desserts from carefully sourced, local ingredients. The Ballard shop—a hybrid soda fountain/dessert cafe—features classic desserts (bread pudding, crème brûlee, salted butter toffee) and original treats, plus boozy milkshakes and cocktails. Eat them immediately, or take-andbake their most popular item, a molten chocolate cake in a four-ounce mason jar. (5427 Ballard Ave NW, 420-3431, getyourhotcakes.com, $)
JOSHUA HENDERSON OF SKILLET RECOMMENDS…
LORETTA’S in South Park because it has “probably the best burger in Seattle and is exactly my style.” From the owner of Georgetown’s beloved 9 Lb Hammer comes this South Park bar that’s comfortable to a degree that could be hazardous to your liver’s health. Loretta’s is cozy like crazy, with its low, dark-planked ceiling, dim old light fixtures, wood-burl clocks, and record player in the corner. Drinking at Loretta’s is like drinking in a cabin in the woods, or maybe inside a wooden cigar box. The tavern steak is good, and so are the fries; there’s also burgers, a couple sandwiches, salad with or without meat or salmon. Skip the pork-tenderloin sandwich. (8617 14th Ave S, 327-9649, lorettasnorthwesterner.com, $–$$)
PALACE KITCHEN downtown because he loves “watching the line cooks cook on that line… and it feels like a real restaurant, has a great energy.” This dim, crowded New American spot from Tom Douglas (aka T-Doug) is a longtime (since 1996!) late-night favorite for those who have the cash— the full menu is served until 1 o’clock in the morning. The Palace Burger Royale is possibly the original gourmet burger in the city. Hold out for a booth; you can wait at the bar. (2030 5th Ave, 448-2001, tomdouglas.com, $$–$$$)
CAFE PRESSE on Capitol Hill because of its “simplicity, perfection and consistency… they nail it.” Cafe Presse—brought to you by the people of Le Pichet—is goodness incarnate: pretty but not fancy, and serving simple, good French food from the crack of dawn until two in the morning (in Seattle, a miracle). Among the (many) great menu items: the epitome of an omelet, the world’s best green salad, a grilled-sardine sandwich, a cheesy-hammy-creamy croque monsieur, a giant slab of chicken-liver terrine, steak frites, a daily fish special, and more, more, MORE. Also: the city’s best baguette and butter, all you can eat (which may turn you into the kind of person who wraps the leftovers in a napkin and puts them in your pocket.) From Presse’s full (and marble) bar issue forth decent French wines at very decent prices, beers, and cocktails, while the television plays soccer from around the globe. Cafe Presse is pretty much a civic treasure. (1117 12th Ave, 709-7674, cafepresseseattle.com, $)
MA’ONO FRIED CHICKEN & WHISKY in West Seattle because Mark Fuller is “probably one of my favorite chefs in Seattle. His flavors to me are always so spot-on.” In Hawaiian, “ono” means “delicious,” and “ma” is a prefix that means going toward, facing, or making. Ma’ono in West Seattle is the reincarnation of the marvelous Spring Hill. Chef Mark Fuller’s mother is from Kauai, and he spent time there growing up; when demand for his formerly Mondays-only fried chicken became unstoppable, he decided to make Hawaiian-inspired food to go along with it. (Whiskey requires no explanation.) The manapua (like Hawaiian hum bao) and the saimin (Hawaiian ramen) are just great, and you have to try the Ma’ono dog. And the freak-out-worthy brunch. If Spring Hill had to change, at least Mark Fuller’s still, like the name says, making delicious. (4437 California Ave SW, 935-1075, maono.springhillnorthwest.com, $$–$$$)
CAFE BESALU in Ballard for the “spectacular caramelization and dough development… the sugar/salt level is so perfect on every pastry.” Ethan Stowell recommends Besalu, too—see this page.
ZACH HARJO OF OCHO RECOMMENDS…
BALLARD SMOKE SHOP in (duh) Ballard “for first-call hash browns and Fernet at 6 a.m. before ill-fated boating debacles, apparently.” This is the place to go for well whiskey, a cheap can of cold beer, and a few pull tabs—at the Smoke Shop, people wear trucker caps unironically. The waitresses, who are old and beautiful in that dive-bar don’t fuck with me way, are completely wonderful. The Smoke Shop is a treasure of a bar, even though you can’t smoke there anymore. (5439 Ballard Ave NW, 784-6611, $)
LA CARTA DE OAXACA in Ballard because it’s “my alma mater and still the best Mexican food in the city.” Rachel Yang recommends La Carta, too—see this page.
IN THE BOWL on Capitol Hill, though he failed
KELLY O
SHIRO’S
to specify exactly why… In the Bowl is a tiny, no-frills diner with a vast, completely vegetarian menu that’s a linguistic delight, with courses identified as “Episodes”—drinks are “Beverages Episode,” side dishes are “Accompany Buddies Episode,” curries are “Curry Episode” (yikes). To make decisions even harder, dishes can be ordered with four different veggie protein constructs (e.g., fried tofu, fake duck) and four different kinds of noodles. Especially popular: an appetizer called Melting Culture, served with grill-crisped, savory roti rice flour bread that may make you cry (with joy!). Noodle and curry dishes have un-overcooked veggies, and two stars gets you significant heat; soups are good, too. Prices aren’t quite as low as the surroundings might merit, but vegetarians (and some normal people) really love In the Bowl. (1554 E Olive Way, 568-2343, inthebowlbistro.com, $–$$)
ANDREW FRIEDMAN OF LIBERTY RECOMMENDS…
LA BÊTE on Capitol Hill for “consistently great food and service—punching way beyond their weight.” The beautiful former Chez Gaudy space—a 1927 brick building tucked away on Capitol Hill’s Bellevue Avenue—got a renovation and a very worthy tenant with La Bête. The space feels a little old-fashioned, intimate and pretty, but not at all precious; the Northwestingredient-focused cuisine is made by Aleks Dimitrijevic (Bouley, Harvest Vine, and Licorous). Of note: the alchemical handmade pork rinds and the banana split—and in between, it’s hard to go wrong. One way to decide: Everybody here looks, surreptitiously or openly, at what everybody else is getting, in the way that the non-food-obsessed check out other people’s dates. And on Mondays, the menu roves to cuisines like Indian or Mexican, and the results are generally as good or better than the best in town. A lot of chefs eat at La Bête on their nights off. (1802 Bellevue Ave, 329-4047, labeteseattle.com, $$)
BARRIO on Capitol Hill, “especially on half-price tequila & mezcal Mondays.” The Heavy Restaurant Group—that is, downtown’s, Kirkland’s, Woodinville’s, and Bellevue’s Purple Cafe and Wine Bars, as well as Lot. No. 3 in Bellevue—created this upscale Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. The concept is “a Northwest approach to Mexican-inspired cuisine,” with house-made salsas, short rib quesadillas, chipotle-seasoned scallops, and so forth. Also on offer: “creative, classic, and Latin-focused” cocktails and weekend brunch. The tiled bar resembles a swim-up one at a Mexican resort, but alas, there’s no water around it; the rumor that there’s one staffer solely dedicated to keeping the wall of candles lit is not true. (Bellevue’s branch of Barrio closed in July 2011 after two years because it “wasn’t succeeding at the same rate as our other restaurants,” according to the H.R.G.) (1420 12th Ave, 588-8105, barriorestaurant.com, $$)
OOLA DISTILLERY on Capitol Hill because: “How awesome is it to have a really good distillery on Capitol Hill? It’s pretty awesome.” Oola Distillery makes handcrafted batches of premium distilled spirits—i.e., sweet, local booze—on Capitol Hill, across from Skillet Diner. Try it (and if you like it, buy it) in their tasting room. (1314 E Union St, 709-7909, ooladistillery.com, $$)
CANLIS on Queen Anne because: “Who holistically does a better job than Canlis? Food, service, bar, and coffee. Unparalleled.” Ethan Stowell recommends Canlis, too—see page 27.
CANON on Capitol Hill because “between the unmatched selection and great service… one may even forget that they have great food.”
Jamie Boudreau finally got his own bar, Canon: Whiskey and Bitters Emporium (his colon), and the very great Murray Stenson is behind the bar with him. Formerly, Boudreau ran the bar of Vancouver’s departed Daniel Boulud restaurant Lumiere, then that of the former location of Vessel downtown. Canon has dark upholstery, an antique cash register, a bar stained with Angostura bitters (on purpose), and such an extensive and beautiful liquor collection, it’s somewhat unbelievable. Boudreau wants his patrons to be “ensconced in booze.” To that end: a 100-drink menu-book, antique glassware, barrel-aged cocktails served in glass flasks, punch-bowl service, and more, more, MORE (including a nice little menu of food for ballast). It’s the slightly
JIM DROHMAN OF LE PICHET AND CAFE PRESSE RECOMMENDS…
BAR DEL CORSO on Beacon Hill because it’s “a pizzeria where the pizza is great (of course), but there are enough other tasty things on the menu that you can forgo pizza completely if you aren’t in the mood.” On Beacon Hill, you can eat home-style Filipino food at brightly lit Inay’s (and maybe catch the server’s one-person drag show). You can get really good catfish at a Shell station. You can go to family Mexican restaurant Baja Bistro (or to its everyone-welcome-especiallygays-on-Wednesdays bar). Then there’s Jerry Corso’s wood-fired pizza place, Bar del Corso. Jerry—beloved in Seattle cooking from his days at Cafe Lago, Harvest Vine, and Campagne—lives in the neighborhood, and it’s a neighborhood spot: friends running into each other and sharing a table, little kids jumping up and down. The Neapolitan pies, made with local/seasonal/etc. ingredients, are just great. (3057 Beacon Ave S, 395-2069, bardelcorso.com, $$)
MEZCALERIA OAXACA on Queen Anne because it’s “just like the Carta [de Oaxaca], but mom is working at the Mezcaleria now… say no more.” Very delicious Oaxacan food—moles, tamales wrapped in banana leaves, chiles rellenos, etc., all made fresh in-house—have made bright, busy La Carta de Oaxaca in Ballard and Mezcaleria Oaxaca on Queen Anne citywide favorites, so expect a wait. Everything is much, much fresher and subtler (and spicier, and just better) than at your average family Mexican spot, with particularly fantastic homemade salsas and tortillas. Mezcaleria also has every mezcal available in Washington State and a big shiny metal roaster in the back room for the barbacoa de cabrito (marinated, barbecued goat, SO GOOD). Both restaurants are run by the Dominguez family, with mom Gloria Perez as head chef, and have millions of gorgeous photos of Oaxaca by local photographer Spike Mafford on the walls. Coming soon: La Carta on Capitol Hill! (5431 Ballard Ave NW, 782-8722, lacartadeoaxaca.com, $$)
BAR FERD’NAND on Capitol Hill because it’s “halfway between Le Pichet and Cafe Presse, makes a great rest stop especially when walking uphill. Plus you can talk bike racing with Marc.” Bar Ferd’nand is the oyster-and-wine bar in the middle of the neato hangar-like Melrose Market. It’s run by Matt Dillon of Sitka & Spruce, which is just steps away; it seems set up as sort of a S&S holding pen, but you can make an excellent supper of the snacks both off- and on-the-halfshell found here. (1531 Melrose Ave, Suite 3, 682-1333, ferdinandthebar.com, $$)
SUGAR BAKERY & CAFE on Capitol Hill for its “very good brioche and croissants in a area that is poor on options. Worth a bus ride.” Created by Stephanie Crocker (no relation to Betty) and her husband, John McCaig, Sugar Bakery makes cakes, pies, pastries, cookies, coffee, soups, and sammies. They also sell whole cakes made-to-order that range in size from cupcake to small-province-of-Candyland. People love Sugar. (1014 Madison St, 749-4105, sugarbakerycafe.com, $)
JOE BAR on Capitol Hill because it’s “perhaps the prettiest stretch of street in Seattle and Joe Bar is right in the middle of it. Good coffee and no nonsense. Nice wine by the glass is a bonus.”
Cute little Joe Bar has interesting art on the walls as well as nice people inside those walls, and crepes are served in addition to its namesake coffee. The cheapest and most delicious item on the crepe menu is also the most classic: lemon juice and powdered sugar, topped with thin-to-transparent slices of lemon. The more substantial savory crepes include a tasty Caprese salad rip-off and a spinach, roasted red pepper, and blue cheese combo. Also: panini, soup, salads, antipasti plates, and beer and wine, and yay for that. (810 E Roy St, 324-0407, joebar.org, $)
JAMIE BOUDREAU OF CANON RECOMMENDS…
LLOYDMARTIN on Queen Anne because it’s “a gem that’s hidden in plain sight on the top of Queen
know about it, shame on you for not going more often.”
native Sam Crannell (Quinn’s, Oddfellows, and, very briefly, 5 Corner Market) serves “productdriven” small plates with cocktails and wine at his upper Queen Anne place. It’s named after his two granddads, it’s small, it’s dominated by dark wood, and it has a simplicity that more restaurants should aspire to—it looks great without making a lot of fuss. The food is good and so is the music, and you might overhear some amusing conversations (“Yes, I agree,” the lady says, after taking a sip of her martini, “it’s hard to find a good property manager these days”). LloydMartin is not cheap, but it is worth it. (1525 Queen Anne Ave N, 420-7602, lloydmartinseattle.com, $$$)
MISTRAL KITCHEN downtown because it’s got “consistently some of the best foie gras the city has to offer AND they have a patio on which you can enjoy some of the best food in the city.” William Belickis’s Mistral in Belltown was one of very few Seattle restaurants offering an unapologetically formal haute cuisine experience. Born at the beginning of 2010, Mistral Kitchen is a mammoth, starkly contemporary space on Westlake with multiple kitchens, dining options from a la carte crudos to eight-course set menus, and a bar serving craft cocktails. The financially challenged can get a look/taste/sip at happy hour. (2020 Westlake Ave, 623-1922, mistralkitchen.com, $–$$$)
CANLIS on Queen Anne, and oh, and by Canlis, I mean the bar at Canlis. Too many people forget that you can eat there, either from the bar menu or the regular menu. Just as good as the main room but with more options!” Ethan Stowell AND Andrew Friedman recommend Canlis, too—see pages 27 and 29.
LITTLE UNCLE in Pioneer Square and on Capitol Hill because “both locations are so small and hidden that you might walk right by and not realize that you are missing some fantastic ‘brick and mortar’ street food. With the new Pioneer Square location, you can now drink booze and sit at a proper table and truly enjoy the experience!” Little Uncle on Capitol Hill is a walk-up window of Thai-food deliciousness. Little Uncle in Pioneer Square is equally delicious, located in the subterranean space where Marcus’ Martini Heaven used to be. Both are brought to you by former Lark sous chef Wiley Frank and his wife, Poncharee Kounpungchart, also known as PK, and also a chef, who are both extremely nice people. (Somewhat confusingly, “Little Uncle” is PK’s father’s nickname.) If you go get Little Uncle’s superlative, inexpensive Thai food, you will not regret it—it is exceptionally fresh, legitimately spicy, and just great. For Capitol Hill, if you go to their website, you can place your order online, and they’ll have it waiting in the 15-minute time frame of your choosing; for Pioneer Square, note that they’re super-busy between noon and one, but come before or after, and you’ll probably have the run of the place. (88 Yesler Way, 223-8529, littleuncleseattle.com, and one other location, $–$$)
ZIG ZAG CAFE downtown because the “brand-new expanded patio and sound baffling add even more reasons to get some of the best cocktails and friendliest service the city has to offer.” The Zig Zag, tucked away on the stairs below Pike Place Market, serves very fine cocktails. The atmosphere is nice but not at all stuffy, with favorable lighting conditions. This is where Murray Stenson, the bartenders’ bartender, aka Murr the Blur, used to do his alchemy—those behind the bar here have been trained well. (1501 Western Ave, 625-1146, zigzagseattle.com, $$)
ANU APTE OF ROB ROY RECOMMENDS…
BOTTLEHOUSE on Madrona because “Bottlehouse has a beautiful patio that is perfect for sipping (or pounding) wine.” Bottlehouse is a wine bar and “shoppe” located upstairs from Madrona’s urban winery, Wilridge (which makes special Bottlehouse blends). The motto: “Dwell, Drink, Be Well,” which sounds soothing. The place was made with 80 percent reclaimed materials (including beams from a Capitol Hill duplex as seating and Montana barn wood) and focuses on local producers. Also: Salumi meats, cheeses from near and far, and both deck and back garden seating. (1416 34th Ave, 962-1619, bottlehouseseattle.com, $) GREEN LEAF in Belltown and the International District because “Green Leaf serves delicious
food until 1 a.m. or later, and when I enter the basement restaurant in Belltown, I feel like I’m being transported to somewhere far away.” Green Leaf is the kind of place you selfishly want to keep a secret. The Vietnamese food is delicious and exciting and satisfying and goodlooking and cheap as hell—a gift of greatness at hole-in-the-wall prices. Try the bahn xeo, a savory crepe-type thing: two giant half-moons made with rice flour and coconut milk, scented and colored with turmeric, crisp outside, moist and chewy inside, filled with tons of bean sprouts, shrimp, and pork (with a bonus heap of cilantro, basil, mint, and lettuce). It’s messy, fun, and brings together greasy and fresh in an outstanding way. The beef la lot is extra great here, as is cabbage salad with duck, and green papaya salad with charred, grilled whole shrimp, and lots of other stuff. The servers are lovely and helpful, and the original ID space is much less hole-in-thewally than the prices would make you expect, while the second Green Leaf, in the basement of the Labor Temple in Belltown, is an elegantly awesome hideaway. Another Belltown location shares a storefront with the nightclub Tia Lou’s. Green Leaf is great. (418 8th Ave S, 340-1388; 2800 First Ave, 448-3318; greenleaftaste.com; $)
ZIG ZAG CAFE downtown because it’s “so warm and welcoming, with top-notch drinks and service.” Jamie Boudreau recommends the Zig Zag, too—see this page.
BRASS TACKS in Georgetown because it’s “just a funky place bordering on bizarre. The food is good and the drinks are stiff.” Brass Tacks is the full-service sister restaurant to Ground Control, the well-liked Georgetown sandwich shop and bar. The atmosphere is upscale roadhouse—welcoming and intentionally odd, with shuffleboard amid the dining tables and a baby doll smoking a cigar in a big birdcage. Strings of lights make the rough-around-the-edges look pretty; a jazz band might play, loud enough that you have to shout a bit, on a Friday night. The Northwest comfort menu includes stuff like deviled duck eggs, lamb sliders, a Painted Hills cheeseburger, macaroni and cheese with housesmoked brisket, and something called pork fries; if that all sounds weighty, a half-dozen interesting vegetable dishes, like a grilled Caesar or roasted artichoke and arugula, round it out. (6031 Airport Way S, 397-3821, georgetownbrass.com, $$)
MARIA HINES OF TILTH, GOLDEN BEETLE, AND AGRODOLCE RECOMMENDS…
BATHTUB GIN & CO. in Belltown “’cause bourbon is my spirit animal and they have a great selection of it.” Bathtub Gin, in the basement of the Humphrey Apartments in Belltown, is a miniature speakeasy-style bar that doesn’t try too hard and works like a charm. The entrance is in the alley. Go early and park at the six-seat bar for a while to make new friends, drink great cocktails, and enjoy the hell out of yourself. (2205 Second Ave, 728-6069, bathtubginseattle.com, $)
LITTLE UNCLE in Pioneer Square and on Capitol Hill “’cause Wiley and PK are amazing human beings that only produce amazing soulful dishes.” Jamie Boudreau recommends Little Uncle, too—see this page.
TAVERN LAW and NEEDLE AND THREAD on Capitol Hill because “Needle and Thread—I love hidey-hole places that really make you feel like you got away for a while.” From the gentlemen of Belltown’s well-reputed, extremely popular Spur Gastropub and (ditto) the Coterie Room, Tavern Law is an upscale cocktail lounge with a vigorous speakeasy theme (including a “secret” upstairs bar called Needle and Thread). If you’re eating, get the sous-vide fried chicken. JUST GET IT. (1406 12th Ave, 322-9734, tavernlaw.com, $$)
CANLIS on Queen Anne because “Food = mind-blowing / service = mind-readers.” Ethan Stowell, Andrew Friedman, and Jamie Boudreau all recommend Canlis, too—see pages 27, 29, and this page. Canlis!
CAFE BESALU in Ballard because “What girl doesn’t love crispy, flaky pastry made with butter and lard?” Ethan Stowell and Joshua Henderson recommend Cafe Besalu as well—see page 27. Besalu!
MAI THAIKU on Phinney Ridge “’cause it’s not overly sweet Thai food made for the American
palate. The spicy is hella spicy, and the sour will make your face pucker.” Not your usual smothered-in-coconut-milk neighborhood Thai place, Mai Thaiku makes fresher, more interesting, and way more delicious Thai food than you might be used to. To heighten the buzz you’ll get from the spicier dishes, the teeny bar, Fu Kun Wu, specializes in tincture-y cocktails that make various promises of vitality (with some aphrodisiac varieties limited to one per person, lest you get too freaky). Chef Anne Sawvalak, from Bangkok, heads up a mostly women-run kitchen; “I learned to cook from my mom, and the food that we are serving at Thaiku is based on recipes from our families in Thailand,” says she. NOTE: Thaiku moved from its bigger, darker Ballard space to a pretty little Phinney Ridge bungalow in early 2013 (and added to its name: “mai” means “new” in Thai). (6705 Greenwood Ave N, 706-7807, thaiku.com, $$)
JIM ROMDALL OF VESSEL RECOMMENDS…
CRUMBLE & FLAKE on Capitol Hill because it “has some of the best pastries I’ve had anywhere in the world, and it’s two blocks from my apartment, and it’s so good that they often sell out of the good stuff before I’m dressed and out.” Awesome pastry chef Neil Robertson (Canlis, Mistral Kitchen) bakes his ever-lovin’ heart out (and sells out of his awesome goods really fast) at his tiny bakery on Olive Way. (1500 E Olive Way, 329-1804, crumbleandflake.com, $)
LA BÊTE on Capitol Hill because it “easily has some of the best food in the city, and combines it with the perfect amount of kitsch and a lack of pretentiousness.” Andrew Friedman recommends La Bête, too—see page 29.
SHORTY’S in Belltown because “I love hot dogs, pinball, cheap booze, and Buck Hunter. Shorty’s has these things.” Hot dogs, booze, and pinball in one place spells fun for everyone (well, everyone 21 and older). Shorty’s serves an array of bargain-priced wieners with a vast assortment of accompanying condiments—the Chicago dog, with all its salady stuff piled on top, is kind of close to healthy. Nostalgic soda pops and vegetarian options are offered for those who choose to abstain but still remember how to have a good time. For relatively high rollers, the Trophy Room back bar carries top-shelf liquors. Shorty’s RULZ. (2222 Second Ave, 4415449, shortydog.com)
ALTURA on Capitol Hill because “Altura truly cares about every aspect of their cuisine and provides a very unique menu format that is perfect for people who always want to try everything.” In Italian, “Altura” means, roughly, a place on high. Dinner at Altura is expensive, but this is food of another order: Every plate is painstakingly composed, every bite compelling. The menu is Italianate local/seasonal/organic/foraged/etc., and the restaurant is across the street and south a bit from Poppy on Broadway. The interior is unintimidating, not-overdone rustic/ reclaimed—beams, church pews, and the like— with an antique angel salvaged from a chapel in France that was bombed during World War II. Chef Nathan Lockwood (chef de cuisine at San Francisco’s Acquerello when it earned a Michelin star, Fleur de Lys, the Ruins) and his crew works calmly in an open kitchen with counter seating; sommelier Guy Kugel was wine director at Flying Fish. The business manager is Rebecca Lockwood; she and Nathan met at the very unrarified Broadway Dick’s (awww!). Altura is the sort of elevated eating you’ll feel lucky to do even once in your lifetime—when food becomes drug, it is
very fine dining indeed. (617 Broadway E, 4026749, alturarestaurant.com, $$$)
ROCCO’S in Belltown because it’s “a great casual spot to hang out and have a slice of pizza, and they just so happen to have an amazing cocktails, liquor, and beer selection!” Rocco’s is where Noodle Ranch was for a billion years and then Dope Burger was for five minutes. Rocco’s has a pressed-tin ceiling and old-timey light fixtures, and Rocco’s serves a fine range of cocktails, plus pizza for cushioning. (2228 Second Ave, 448-2625, roccosseattle.com, $$)
DAVID BUTLER OF THE FORTHCOMING LE CAVISTE RECOMMENDS…
BOAT STREET CAFE in Belltown, which is “Renee E.’s (totally ignored now) first place. Still my fave of her empire.” This obscurely located but lovely French-ish bistro from Renee Erickson (now more well-known for the later Walrus and the Carpenter in Ballard and the Whale Wins in Fremont/Wallingford) is a longtime favorite for good reason. Especially nice, weather permitting: sweet, quiet outdoor seating for brunchtime sunshine. (3131 Western Ave, 6324602, boatstreetcafe.com, $$)
BAR DEL CORSO on Beacon Hill, but “I don’t exalt the pizza the way everybody else does—at Corso, I eat everything else. EVERYTHING.” Jim Drohman recommends Bar del Corso, too—see page 29.
SZECHUAN NOODLE BOWL in the International District “because yeah.” A brightly lit, no-nonsense source of fabulous Sino-starch, the Bowl specializes in all things doughy, from bowls of ropy noodles to hand-pleated gyoza to scallion pancakes. Nearly everything served here possesses a deeply satisfying chew, and everything’s real cheap, too. (420 Eighth Ave S, 623-4198, $)
BAKERY NOUVEAU on Capitol Hill (and West Seattle) for its “butter croissants two blocks from home.” This beloved bakery is owned by William Leaman, the captain of Seattle’s 2005 World Cup of Baking team, and offers crazy-making artisan breads, pastries, quiches, and tartines from both its Capitol Hill and West Seattle locations. (137 E John Ct, 858-6957, and 4737 California Ave SW, 923-0534; bakerynouveau.com; $)
BAR SAJOR in Pioneer Square “for that twoperson steak he roasts up in fall and winter—at lunch!” Bar Sajor (pronounced sigh-YOUR) is a place in Pioneer Square brought to you by Matt Dillon (Sitka & Spruce and the Corson Building, and Food & Wine’s 10 best new chefs in 2007, and James Beard Best Chef Northwest 2012) and his “co-conspirator de cuisine,” Edouardo Jordan. The lovely high-ceilinged space is on the corner of cobblestoney Occidental Park at Jackson (next to Temple Billiards for your pool-shooting convenience). It’s a bar in the Spanish or Portuguese sense of being a bar, Dillon says, “a casual place for simple food,” one where you stop by for lunch or after work, and have a conversation and a drink and a snack or supper, instead of, say, drinking until you can’t see straight at 2 a.m. (Pioneer Square’s already set for that). Sajor is Dillon’s mother’s maiden name. While “Sajor” is Polish, Bar Sajor serves food influenced by North Africa, Portugal, Spain... it has a woodfired oven and a wood-fired grill and rotisserie for lots of Stokesberry chicken—no stove and no range. Also: flatbread, simple roasted vegetables, house-made yogurt, excellent seafood, and “lots of naturally fermented goodness,” like wheyfermented pickles. It is really, really good. (323 Occidental Ave S, 682-1117, barsajor.com, $$–$$$)
